* TO THE ARTICLE "THE FIRST VICTORY OF THE REVOLUTION"
[1 November 1905]

Theses and materials for the article "The First Victory of the Revolution,"
published in *Proletarii* No. 24, of 7 November (25 October)
1905. (Coll. Vol. VIII, pp. 552–557.)

31.
A NEW REVOLUTION AND A NEW WAR.

The indecision of victories, the protractedness of the struggle, the obstinacy of the combatants.

The victory of 30 (17) October is an incomplete victory, not Sedan, but Liao-Yang¹).

The general strike has achieved victory, this is undeniable, for the enemy has abandoned the field of battle. A telegram in the Times: "the people have conquered. The Tsar has capitulated. Autocracy no longer exists." Here there is crude falsehood concerning capitulation.

There is no capitulation and there has been none. There is no rout of the enemy. Not Sedan, but Liao-Yang. The enemy has suffered a partial defeat and retreated. "Retreat with rear-guard action."²)

Has the Duma been disrupted? Not yet, but it has been severely damaged.

T h e   t a c t i c s   o f   a c t i v e   b o y c o t t   h a v e   a c h i e v e d   v i c t o r y.

The meaning of Witte's report³) is clear: "moral union with the rational elements of society" against "actions that openly threaten society and the state." Read: with the liberal bourgeoisie against the revolutionary workers and revolutionary peasants—against the revolutionary peoples.

What follows from Witte's report: 1) Civil freedoms granted (? with limitations⁴)
2) The Duma remains (?)⁵)
3) The State Council—elective...
4) The State Duma receives legislative rights? (ne pas agir contre ses decisions⁶).
5) The institution of reforms, "as in the civilized world"⁷).

M. Holland de Mares in L'Indépendance Belge, 30 X, article "La Russie rouge." General Trepoff expressed yesterday the hope that the strikers would not gain their cause, the suspension of all public life becoming quite naturally their advantage—winning the sympathies of the passive masses. This would be true everywhere else where the general strike disorganizes the normal life of peoples, but this is not true in Russia where life for a long time has no longer had a normal character and where the passive masses will endure with patience this supreme trial, in the hope that the revolution will finally succeed and overthrow the government which is responsible for all the ills suffered⁸).

Now:
Intensified utilization of the new means, semi-freedoms...
Propaganda of the lessons of the "all-Russian political strike"—
And so forth.

An expanded field of struggle: the countryside has been little affected, or rather not at all affected in the political offensive of the peasantry. By spring it will rise too, if we act correctly.

Struggle for the genuine full rights of the workers: universal suffrage.